The Nostalgic Lighting in the Arcades
-- A critique about Adelaide Arcade and Gays Arcade
Sunny Huang
The Adelaide
Arcade and the adjoining Gays Arcade, built in 1885, are situated off Rundle
Mall in Adelaide, and house over 100 speciality retail stores nowadays on the
ground floor and balcony level. As the shopping mall of the time, the Arcades took
200 tradespeople around 6 months to build at the cost of 60,000 pounds.
Both Arcades
have reflected the rational principle which form follows function, particularly
in term of its linear floor plans which allow both levels to carry out their
functions respectively. Serving as the
commercial center of the time, each of the shops consists of one retails store
on the ground floor with a workroom on the first floor where an indoor
staircase works as a passage to connect them. Although the space for
circulation has been narrowed down to the linear lobby, the general structure
of this building remains its function as a shopping mall in addition to its structural
beauty of mathematical order and harmonic proportion throughout the symmetrical
layout.
The most
distinctive feature of the Arcades is the classical style of both the dome and the
façade. The imitation of Italianate Dome, derived from Florence Cathedral in
1420, was introduced into the Adelaide Arcade by architects Withall & Wells
in 1885. Resting on the top of the building, the Italianate ribbed dome illustrates
the Renaissance enthusiasm for the beauty of geometry. Its inventor Filippo
Brunelleschi advanced the structure of segmental vault into the dome, based on
both the Gothic style of stone vaulting and the doctrinal of Roman engineering,
in which the beauty of structure is strengthened by the longitudinal ribs and
the latitudinal rings with the precisely designed proportion. This
unprecedented proposal has not just placed Italy in the position of both
technical and aesthetic pioneer, but set an example for the successors such
as Withall and Wells to design the elegant façade of Adelaide Arcade.
Another unique beauty of the façade of Adelaide Arcade
relies on its Georgian aesthetics with a bit of Baroque touch. Those columns on
the façade indicate that the Georgian style, particularly the Palladian doors, more
than any other period of English historic architecture, is kind of simplified
style of Greece and Rome which carried on the classical philosophy. Here, the Palladian
doors on the façade of Adelaide Arcade serve as the typical examples of the use
of classical “orders” in Georgian Classicism. Besides, a reasonable amount of
attention was paid to the details on the façade decorated with Baroque
embellishment, whose influence was so potent to spread over the Europe around 17th
century and to rise together with European colonialism. The Baroque details
here give the façade a bit of ornate and theatrical feel in addition to the
rigid sense created by the Georgian style. Such combination of different
architectural styles makes the façade of Adelaide Arcade a queen having both
the rational inner and the sensual appeal.
Wandering through the Adelaide Arcade, one can be truly
fascinated by the usage of both natural light and the artificial illumination.
The soft diffused lights pour in from the skylights on the roof, together with
the electric light which used to be one of the first buildings in Adelaide to
use electric lighting of the time, have generated the comfortable intensity of
illumination for all the wanders inside.
Besides, setting up on the balcony level of Gay’s Arcade,
the Adelaide Arcade’s museum holds a series of historic items including old
newspaper clippings, pictures and sketches which tell the story from years gone
by. An accordion playing the official Adelaide Arcade Polka adds more charm and
rhythm to this mini museum.
Like every
old building with distinctive features, this 126 years old Arcade is still able
to tell its story through many refined details. Despite all the remarkable
merits mentioned above, we can draw attention to the more dynamic aspect of
these Arcades because at times the architecture can often reveal its characteristics
when we see it in use. A close inspection in situ may help us to interpret a
building through a dynamic process. Our one hour in situ observation starts
from 3:30pm. During the peak time of afternoon-tea break, our first, also the
major, impression is the Adelaide Arcade is a convenient passage to connect
Rundle Mall and Grenfell Street. Except a few people chatting with friends in
the café and the old people walking around those boutiques, the pedestrians -- most
of them are business people--also take it as a free lounge.
Typical behaviors
of those pedestrians in the Arcade can be identified as:
·
Wandering
·
Chatting
with friends
·
Sitting
·
Reading
·
Shopping
/ window shopping
·
Drinking
coffee / having lunch
Although
visitors may be attracted by the beautiful façade and inner atmosphere, such an
on-site observation raises a few questions as following:
1. What is
the identity of Adelaide Arcade?
2. With any
inherited identity, is this building supposed to be conservative or
progressive?
We can
discover one interesting fact that Adelaide Arcade used to be a very
progressive architecture of the time.
From the floor plan to the electric lighting, even the cast iron and
plate glass, all indicate its radical character of the time. And the most
important fact is that it serves for commercial purpose from the first day as it
was not born to be a “heritage”. Adelaide
and Gays Arcades are brilliant examples of the 1880’s boom period during which
Rundle Street was transformed into a commercial precinct. In 1885, Adelaide
Arcade was a novelty, but year by year, yesterday’s novelty becomes historical
building today that we talk about and endeavor to keep its original elements.
For any
historical building, the transformation from its function to its form could be
a dilemma. However, as long as we realize that any heritage is transformed from
novelty, thus we are able to change our cliché attitude; some meaningful
reforms could be made based on a few assumptions:
If the first
priority of Adelaide Arcade continues to be the commercial purpose and the
major floor plan can’t be altered---although the nostalgic atmosphere is its
natural by-product--- how to turn the random pedestrians into regular consumers
in terms of any reform of the structure or the function? This question can be
asked in another way: how to attract more new customers to Adelaide Arcade
through its design and function?
To be more
vibrant, which can be put forward as following, is one of the potential that we
see in the Arcades:
1. The
enclosed structure creates good acoustic effect, as it may become a great
“container” to promote more indoor events which can be participated regularly
for the citizens.
2. The long
passage on the ground floor can be transformed into the stage for regular fashion
show which will provide the Arcade with more rhythm as stimulate spontaneous
shopping around those boutiques, etc.
3. The shops
located on the balcony level may not be the ideal destination for random
shoppers unless any shopping activity in the Arcade is planned in advance.
Turning those empty rooms into small theater room could be one of examples to
attract targeted audiences who will also become the potential shoppers. When
the movie or the drama is over, those moviegoers come downstairs for relax, it
would be much easier for them to grab a coffee or buy a new-arrival.
4. The
current entrance of the mini museum on the balcony level is situated in the
corner of the courtyard of Gay’s Arcade. If it is moved towards the main
passage, that will attract more pedestrians to visit the museum.
Nevertheless,
the Adelaide city council has managed to protect the Arcades as one of the
renowned cultural heritages; the function of these two Arcades and the ideal
location still make them one of the most visited in the city center and one of
the most comfortable to wander. However, as a 21st century Arcade, to retain
much of its original flavor does not necessarily mean to keep it as
fossil. The new challenge for Adelaide
Arcades would be how to blend contemporary environment in historic building
with the demands of introducing vibrant business operations to provide a 21st
century leisure environment. Being progressive, responding to current theme,
they are the ways to be the testimony of our time and to be respected as
“heritage” by future generation.
(This is a school assignment)
Reference:
Stevenson,
N., 2007, Architecture Explained – the
world’s greatest buildings explored and explained. Revised ed. New York: DK
publishing.
Patricia, M., 2003, Adelaide Arcade cupola, http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=1440&c=1932, viewed on 10 October, 2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome , viewed on 08 October, 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_architecture , viewed on 08 October, 2011.
http://www.britainexpress.com/architecture/baroque.htm , viewed on 08 October, 2011.
http://www.britainexpress.com/architecture/georgian.htm , viewed on
09 October, 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladian_architecture , viewed on 09
October, 2011.
http://www.southaustralia.com/info.aspx?id=9006728 , viewed on 09
October, 2011.
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